Desarrollo humano y sustentable como aspiración del desarrollo local: caso del programa interdisciplinario para el desarrollo integral de micro y pequeñas empresas en las regiones chorotega y pacífico central de Costa Rica

Local and sustainable development keeps on being a challenge for supporting agents and specialized organizations along the local intervention process. The reality shows that it is necessary to redefine the strategy emphazising on the participation and organization processes. The field under study is identified as the focus-attention area on social, financial, and environmental issues in order to rescue the strategic zone in relation to the environmental and social balancing alternatives in Costa Rica. A series of organizations for local support have been working along with the help of international cooperation organizations, government programs, supporting projects for based-community organizations (OAB, among them the NGO/Non-Governmental Organizations), and based-community and local organizations (OLBC). The Integral Development Program for Micro and Small Enterprises (SMEs) in the Chorotega and the Central Pacific Regions of Costa Rica comes up with a strategic proposal with the purpose of making progress in geographical areas with social, cultural and environmental gaps to promote integral processes that take into consideration the local, human and sustainable development. The emphasis of this intervention is on strengthening the based-community organizations (OBC) as the basis to reach participative processes self-managed communities with sustainable lifestyles (sustainable communities) focused on a cooperative economy.